Wednesday, February 24, 2010

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Rebecca Stead won the Newbery Award this year for When You Reach Me, a book that serves as a mystery, an historical novel, and the story of a lost young girl.

In 1978, Miranda lives with her mother in New York City. She relates the story of four letters that changed her life. They were letters that scared her, indicating that someone was watching her, someone who could predict the future, although the events followed closely enough on the heels of the notes that Miranda remembered the predictions.

At twelve, Miranda's life is changing. She lost her best friend, Sal, on a day when he was punched in the stomach as they walked home from school together. Sal turned his back on her, spending his time playing basketball with other boys. So, Miranda picked up a new friend, Annemarie, when Annemarie had a fight with her friend, Julia. At the same time, Miranda gets to know Marcus, the boy who hit Sal. Her mother, a paralegal, is practicing for her chance on a game show, The 20,000 Pyramid. And, Richard, her mother's boyfriend for two years, would like to move in, but her mother is stalling.

Miranda is a lost soul, hanging on to the story of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, as one friend she can count on. She's not prepared for that book to be the favorite of her enemy. And, she's not prepared for the tragic accident that will hint at the answers to her questions about the four notes, left anonymously.

Rebecca Stead's book, designed for readers from nine to twelve, holds secrets. And, the secret of the strange "laughing man" on the corner was a surprise. However, despite the unusual mystery and the time travel element introduced by the inclusion of A Wrinkle in Time, somehow I missed the quality that made this book a Newbery winner. Or, perhaps it's just me. I enjoyed the book and the mysterious element, but I'm afraid this book didn't excite me as much as I had hoped it would. Even so, When You Reach Me is a book that will last in bookstores and libraries, due to the Newbery Award.

Have you read When You Reach Me? Does Stead's new book belong with the other Newbery winners? And, as I said, it could just be that it didn't excite me as much as A Wrinkle in Time.

I read this one some months ago and thought it was quite clever. I remember telling one of our children's librarians about it. I think I liked the fact that it was about something other than vampires, ghosts or fairies, not that I don't love all of those. Anyway, I won't comment about the Newbery question, but I liked it.

"A Wrinkle in Time" is a big favorite of mine. As for "When You Reach Me," I enjoyed it, but I thought "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" was even better, and I would have given it the Newbery if it were up to me. I have heard from several people that "When You Reach Me" is better on second reading.

Here's what I love about this book. First, of course, the compelling mystery. Stead gives the mystery depth beyond the mere content of the notes by lacing the book with the science fiction theme of time travel. The most obvious way this theme shows up is in conversations Miranda has with certain friends—in particular Marcus, a math and physics prodigy who thinks time travel is theoretically possible. However, time travel is also woven into the book via Miranda’s attachment to Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (the only book Miranda reads), a book in which the protagonist, Meg, travels through time to save her family members.

Second, I love Stead's focus on the theme of friendship. Specifically, the novel addresses the question of how to hold on to old friendships without stifling them, and it insightfully brings out the stabilizing effect that new friendships can have in the effort to preserve or reclaim old ones. I'm holding back here in order not to spoil the plot, but suffice to say that the novel’s narrative reflections on friendship are extremely thoughtful and resonant. This theme of friendship will speak deeply to tweens navigating the frequently tumultuous social world of middle school.

Finally, the book is also just very clever. For example, Miranda’s mother wants to win on The $20,000 Pyramid. The final part of the game show is called the “Winner’s Circle”, in which a set of objects is described to the contestant and she is required to say what category the objects belong to. So, if the objects were “a tube of toothpaste, someone’s hand” the contestant would say “things you squeeze”. Stead cleverly titles most of the chapters in the book with categories like that, such as “Things You Keep in a Box,” “Things That Go Missing,” and “Things You Hide.” And sure enough, Stead puts objects in each chapter that fit into these titular categories. After a while, it became a fun extra game to find what the “things that smell” or “things that kick” were in the chapter I was reading!

Thank you, Adam. Excellent summary of the book. I didn't do as thorough a job reading it as I should have, and I should go back sometime and reread it. For example, I missed the chapter headings until I had almost finished the book, so I missed an important element. And, that's my fault, not the book's. I just missed it.

About Me

I have been a library manager/administrator for over 30 years, in Ohio, Florida, Arizona, and, now, Indiana. Winner of the 2011 Arizona Library Association Outstanding Library Service Award. I am a contributing Book Reviewer for Library Journal, Mystery Readers Journal, ReadertoReader.com and VibrantNation.com. Author of the "Mystery Fiction" chapter in Genreflecting: A Guide to Popular Reading Interests (7th ed.) Winner of the 2009 and 2010 Spinetingler Awards for Best Reviewer.

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Review Policy

It's an honor to be asked to review books, and I'm grateful to all the publishers, publicists, and authors who send me books. Thank you. Reviews will appear on my blog if I've had a chance to read, and finish, the book. If I do not finish a book, I won't review it, and I will not respond to emails asking when, or if, I'll be reviewing a book.

My reviews are only my opinion, and do not reflect the views of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library.

I will not review self-published books, and, at the present time, do not accept books in e-book format.

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My Oct. 19, 2009 blog provides full disclosure that I only receive review copies of books, with no other compensation. All review copies are marked as such. If there any any questions, please feel free to contact me.

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